A Long To-Do List For FDA Chief Hamburg
The Washington Post details Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg"s to-do list, noting that during her brief tenure the agency has announced nearly-daily warnings about various consumer products and created an internal task force to recommend ways to release more information about FDA decisions and policies. Hamburg"s list "goes beyond reorienting and restoring public confidence in the FDA. Last week, Congress passed historic legislation that gives significant new authority and responsibility to the FDA to regulate tobacco for the first time. That means Hamburg must create a new center within her agency to handle oversight of the manufacturing, marketing and sale of cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products. And today a House committee takes up legislation that would give FDA broad new powers to regulate food safety -- a bill that House leaders are determined to pass this year. The bill would place greater responsibility on the food industry to prevent food-borne illnesses and would require the FDA to significantly expand its inspection and oversight of the industry" (Layton, 6/17).
Diagnostics